"Why don't you ever listen to anything he has to say?" Jayden yelled, pulling his little brother behind him.

"You shut up!" Alvin's finger was dangerously close. "You don't know what's good for him! You yourself are still a child!"

Klara had enough, "how dare you raise the voice against our sons?"

"You stay out of this, Klara."

"No, you listen to me, you brute. Don't you dare lay a finger on either of them!"

Jayden was furious. "Mom, stop it! I'm old enough to speak for myself!"

Sebastian started crying. His little chubby fingers grabbed Jayden's shirt.

"Shit," Jayden muttered, shooting an angry glare at his arguing parents. Biting back a hate-filled comment, he picked Sebastian up and took him outside. As soon as the door closed behind him the raised voices of the adults got muffled.

"Hey, lil' bro," he said to Sebastian, consoling the crying eight-year old by hoisting him up and down. "Don't listen to them. I don't either. They just don't know how you feel. How I feel. All they care about is themselves. Don't take it to heart." He paused, "they still love you."

Sebastian looked at him with his big curious eyes. "Love me?" he lisped.

Jayden nodded and grinned. "Yep. They love every single one of your toes," he poked Sebastian's socked feet, "and every single one of your chubby little fingers."

"Not chubby!" Sebastian replied in protest and crossed his little arms.

Jayden brought them down the hall while poking Sebastian. "Yes, chubby."

"Me not chubby!" Sebastian pouted angrily.

"Sure, lil' buddy."

"Me not!"

Jayden smiled, opened their shared bedroom door and set Sebastian down on his mattress. "You wanna read to me? I'm sooo tired after dinner."

Sebastian thought for a second with his tongue sticking out, then his face lit up and he clapped his hands together. "Yessss!" he shouted all excited. "You get the book!" He scrambled forwards and clasped a cheap captain's hat in both fists, holding it out to Jayden. "Put on!" He pointed at his own head.

Jayden complied, chuckling to himself, "as you command, captain."

The hat was slightly big on Sebastian but it didn't matter. He wore it with all the pride his curious mind could muster. "The book! The book!" he shouted.

Jayden wiped away some spit on Sebastian's chin. "Alright, alright." He pushed himself up and got a big colorful book from one of the lower shelves of the bookcase, which he gave to the eager little fellow.

Sebastian had climbed onto his bed and made grabbing motions with his hands at Jayden. He smiled. Excitedly Sebastian opened the book and looked expectantly at Jayden. Compliantly, he laid down on the mattress on the floor.

"Eyes closed," Sebastian demanded with a raised finger.

Jayden obeyed.

Sebastian peeked at him over the pages of the book then started to pretend-read.

The earnest babbling of his little brother didn't overlay the muffled shouting coming from the kitchen. His smile faded.

After a minute Sebastian was tired of reading the book and put it aside. Jayden looked at him.

"Why aren't you sleep?" Sebastian asked, frowning. His voice mimicked their dad's.

"I couldn't. The story you read was just too exciting!" Jayden said, smiling half-heartedly.

Sebastian eyed him.

Jayden sighed. "You wanna go to the playground? I need to get some fresh air."

Sebastian looked outside the window. The blinds were still open. "But it's dark."

"Don't worry, the street lamps are bright enough."

"What about mommy and daddy?"

"I wanna be away from them for a while," he answered earnestly, tugging at Sebastian's printed shirt. "Please?"

The little one nodded, got down from the bed and walked to the closet with confident small strides. "But warm!"

"Yeah, you're right. We need some warm clothes. We don't wanna get ourselves sick, now, do we?" he mockingly mimicked their mother.

Sebastian looked discontented at him and shook his head.

"Sorry," Jayden said, got up and stood beside Sebastian. "Which jacket do you wanna wear?"

"That one." Sebastian pointed at a green chord jacket and Jayden got it off the coat hanger for him.

While he put on his own jacket, Sebastian struggled with his sleeves but didn't wanna be helped. After half a minute he was also dressed. Swiftly he took Jayden's hand and led him out of the room, down the hallway. In front of the kitchen door he paused, looked back at Jayden, and then went on to the front door.

They put their shoes on in silence and Jayden grabbed another jacket for Sebastian in case he got cold, before they opened the door and walked out.

It wasn't until they had already went down a few blocks, when Jayden finally spoke up again. "Thanks, man. My head stopped spinning."

Sebastian nodded courtly but kept on walking. It made Jayden smile, then frown. His eyes shimmered. He sniffed and tucked his hands into his pockets. "You wanna race me to the playground?" he asked.

Sebastian shook his head. "Cars."

Jayden bit his lip. "I taught you well, huh? Such a reliable little guy."

"Me not little!" Sebastian said and puffed his cheeks while trying to seem bigger than he was.

Jayden pat his head.

"Not little!" Sebastian insisted.

They crossed the last junction before the playground.

"Sure, you aren't," Jayden snickered.

Sebastian's little fist connected with Jayden's thigh.

"Oh, he's throwing punches," Jayden laughed and side-stepped another swing. "Wanna race me now, little guy?"

Sebastian's cheeks got all red and he ran off, Jayden jogging behind him.

Needless to say Sebastian won. Which he demonstrated with yet another punch against Jayden's thigh.

"Huuh boy, you are so fast!" Jayden exclaimed, breathing heavily and pretending to wipe sweat off his forehead.

"Fast as light!" Sebastian shouted and ran around a picnic table, set up at the edge of the sandbox.

"Where did he go?" Jayden looked around. "Did I lose my little brother? What will I tell our parents?"

Sebastian popped up from behind him, all smiles. "I'm here."

Jayden put a hand to his mouth. "Where did you go? You were there one sec," he pointed in front of him, "and now you're behind me? You truly are as fast as light!"

Sebastian snickered and ran away again.

"Huh? He's gone again!" Jayden exclaimed and spun around.

Sebastian ran towards the slide while looking back at Jayden, laughing. His foot got caught on something and he tripped. With a loud thud, his face connected with a pillar.

Horrified Jayden sprinted after him. "Are you okay?"

Sebastian started crying. His lip was split and bloody with sand all over.

"Shit," Jayden said, not knowing what to do. With his sleeves he tried to dry Sebastian's tears but they kept coming. He had to do something.

"Hey, wait a minute," he said, taking a closer look at Sebastian's face. "I think you lost your first tooth!"

Sebastian stopped wailing, his little fingers flying to his mouth and feeling the newly formed gap right at the front. "Feels weird," he hick-upped. Then he made a face. "Doesn't taste good."

Jayden scrunched up his face. "I know, right? It's all mushy and tastes like iron." He pulled a grimace to make Sebastian laugh.

It worked. The tooth-gap was very red and very present when Sebastian smiled.

"But wait. If your tooth isn't in your mouth anymore...,"Jayden said and Sebastian's eyes flew to the ground as soon as he realized what his brother meant.

"I need the tooth for the tooth-fairy!" he exclaimed and got on all fours, his face only an inch from the ground to see better.

"Wait, you'll need light", Jayden interfered and put on his phone's flashlight.

With the extra light they only needed two minutes to find the tooth. There was still some gum on it, along with blood and lots of sand, but Sebastian held it into the air as if he had just found the greatest treasure known to man.

That night the tooth-fairy left two extra one dollar bills under Sebastian's pillow. 

+++

Ein Oneshot mit ein paar Charakteren aus einer meiner Geschichten, die in Planung ist. Ob ich sie je schreiben werde, weiß ich nicht, aber ich dachte, Valentinstag kann auch ein bisschen geschwisterliche Liebe gebrauchen. 

Und das war unser Wort zum Freitag! Ich wünsche Dir ein wunderbares Wochenende.